Overview

Superior Geographic Location, the Heart of Asia-Pacific

Taiwan is located at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, which puts it in an advantageous position to make use of global production resources and marketplace. Taiwan's north is the world's second largest economy-Japan, its south are the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and India. Taiwan's east is the world's largest economy-the US, and its west is mainland China-the world's fourth largest economy and the center of the world's economic growth. The average flying time from Taipei to the seven major cities (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manila, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney) in Western Pacific is merely 2 hours and 55 minutes. And the average sailing time from Kaohsiung harbor to the 5 major Asia-Pacific harbors is merely 53 hours. Taiwan is the hub of Asian transportation and the logistic center in the East-Asian region.

"Global Innovation Center" and "Global Operations Headquarters"

Taiwan is very active in R&D and product innovation. It provides quality products and services, which enable the development of international brands. Taiwan also has easy access to mainland China's production resources, which makes rapid achievement of mass production possible. It is a superior innovation and R&D base. Taiwan's wealthy production experience, capability to commercialize innovative products rapidly and its global deployment are factors that help Taiwan create a value-added global production chain. Taiwan has become a production base for quality products. Furthermore, the scale and maturity of Taiwan's capital market can assist Taiwan businesses in mainland China in listing in Taiwan's exchange market and encourage international capital funds to participate in Taiwan businesses overseas deployment. Taiwan is in a position to be the capital fund center for international manufacturing industry and the base for strategic alliance between multi-national companies. These advantages help attract overseas technological professionals to come to Taiwan to start their business, and attract foreign companies to come to Taiwan to participate in cross-strait technological projects. Taiwan has products which are designed for global ethnic Chinese markets and is also a testing platform for ethnic Chinese markets. These are also advantages to attract foreign companies to invest in Taiwan.

Excellent Performance in International Rankings and Superior Development Potential

Taiwan's investment environment scores highly in numerous international rankings. In the “Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018,” issued by the World Economic Forum, Taiwan ranks 15th out of 137 economies and fourth in the Asia-Paciﬁc. In the second “Business Environment Risk Intelligence” report of 2017, Taiwan ranks as the world's fourth best investment destination, trailing only Switzerland, Singapore and Germany. According to the 2017 World Competitiveness Yearbook unveiled by IMD, Taiwan ranked 14th in terms of competitiveness among the 61 countries surveyed and was the 3rd place in Asia.

In addition, in the World Bank's “Doing Business 2018” report, Taiwan ﬁnished 15th out of 190 economies for ease of doing business. The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts Taiwan's business environment to be 14th best in the world during the 2014 – 2018 period.

Technological Products throughout the World

Manufacturing and high-tech industries drive economic development in Taiwan. The output values of many Taiwanese products and industries, such as semiconductor, optoelectronic, information, and communication products account for more than 70% of the global market share. The production value of circuit wafer OEM make up 67.4% in the world. These sectors and the assembly and testing sector are all ranked number one in the world. The production values of Taiwan's IC design, account for 21.5% in the world, and those of the TFT-LCD are in the second place in the world. Its PC production value is third.

In conclusion, the international ranking reports show that Taiwan's business environment remains as excellent as it is now. Looking toward the future, Taiwan will continually create a better, friendlier environment, more conducive to business.